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 User being set to offline when a call comes through

Mike Milner's profile image
Mike Milner 8x8 User posted 07-23-2024 21:37

Hello, we have two users on a queue. One of them has no issues. However for the past week or so when a call comes through to that queue, it instantly sets the other users status from "available" to "work offline" and doesn't allow him to take the call. The call then normally goes to voicemail.

We have tried getting the two users to swap PC's and login to their respective accounts. This did no solve the issue. The affected user still was booted to 'work offline' when logged into his account on the other users PC. I've checked their accounts in the admin console and configuration manager for contact center and I cant see anything that stands out.

We did not change anything recently, so I'm not sure what is causing this. Does anyone have any ideas what might cause this?

Thanks!

Alina Maxim's profile image
Alina Maxim
Hello Mike,
 
This behavior is typically encountered due to improper call forward to voicemail settings.
 
If both agents` call forward to voicemail setup is exactly the same, then this is a job for support to handle. It is possible that the caller ID ANI is blocked, and this needs to be released from the back end.
 
You can contact support here.
Jonathan Lynn's profile image
Jonathan Lynn 8x8 User
We've had at least 6 agents somehow click the "Block Caller" button in the 8x8 Work Desktop call logs for the contact centre calling number.
I've not tested exhaustively on how each variation of the blocking mechanism is invoked beyond the obvious.
The documentation is varied and scattered.
How to Block Numbers in 8x8 Work for Desktop <blocking is mentioned to only work for an extension's direct calls.
Forwarding Calls in 8x8 Work for Desktop <looks like some code went wrong during the support portal migration.
Set up Call Forwarding in 8x8 Work for Mobile (another gotcha, 8x8 Work for Mobile handles call forwarding rules differently so you'll need to watch out for users who have the mobile app installed and use that UI to change the rules 🙁)
I don't know how the users seem seem to do it "accidently" because it takes at least 2 clicks.
But I can tell you one thing, the way VCC connects calls using various caller ids to an agent endpoint is extremely frustrating and confusing so no wonder some get blocked.
When you check their call forwarding rules in admin console you'll see:
But also watch out for the following (not sure how/why it was designed this way)
"Blocked callers" seem to be implemented two ways, (not documented well from what I can find), one where the user has clicked "Block caller" as above and the other where they have opened their own personal admin console profile, and within call forwarding rules seen the default "when user gets a call from a blocked caller" rule, enabled it and entered a number or numbers into that list.
What's really bad about the above design is that it's completely un-intuitive.
e.g. trying to remove a number once populated, isn't possible and you need to leave one number in place and disabled the rule on the main page.
In terms of how this awful design impacts VCC agents is significant, and it's not just limited to the above either.
If you were to untick all call-forwarding rules for an agent's 8x8 work extension to avoid creating a mess/unexpected behaviour, then you'll probably find that the call is still hung up at about 15 to 20 seconds by VCC regardless because of some unknown reason.
I've a few feature requests on the whole thing.
  • XR-4418
    • Feature request: 8x8 work should have an optional setting per user to recognize a call from VCC and never forward to voicemail.
  • XR-4470
    • Ability to nominate a special channel/caller id on each VCC tenant for display to agent when workplace phone endpoint receives a call from VCC
  • XR-4471
    • Make Agent Workplace Phone Field self-aware of the agent's endpoints
  • XR-5517
    • Call "Forward all calls" rule in Admin Console be changed to untick other rules automatically, it is behaving in a conflicted and confusing way.
The situation is so bad that call forwarding rules in 8x8 Work should be completely redesigned from the ground up.
While the ability to create complex call forwarding configurations using schedules and nearly limitless rules is useful, for the more common use cases, especially agent's using 8x8 work as their endpoint, they are ABSOLUTELY not fit for purpose.
This may seem like a rant, but if you were to measure how many customers calls get mis-routed because of this design, it is a systemic issue which I don't fully understand how it's allowed to exist in its current form.
Mike Milner's profile image
Mike Milner 8x8 User

I'm not sure how to reply to someone here sorry.

Jonathan Lynn - For some reason the pictures you posted wont show for me. Is what you posted going to produce the same thing as my current problem? My user gets auto-set to "work offline". Is that the same as blocking a caller or the contact center?

Ben Fischer's profile image
Ben Fischer 8x8 User

Absolutely Jonathan!! I also never understood why syncing Work and VCC was never added from the start.

XR-5596 - Sync 8x8 work status and VCC status